Lawyers of embattled Chicago singer, R. Kelly, have requested to delay filing post-trial motions because the former R&B star has been diagnosed with COVID.
Attorney Jennifer Bonjean requested U.S. District Judge, Ann Donnelly, for a two-week extension, until February 17, 2022, to file Kelly’s post-trial motions.
According to Bonjean, the Mobile Digital Communicator (MDC) in Brooklyn, where Kelly is being held until his sentencing in May, indefinitely suspended all jail visits nearly a month ago, and Kelly’s COVID-19 diagnosis interfered with his ability to speak with counsel by telephone.
Bonjean noted that it’s important that Kelly contributes in his post-trial defense. The delay was immediately approved by the judge overseeing the case.
The filing also disclosed that Kelly was “parting ways” with the legal team that represented him at trial last year. Attorneys Devereaux Cannick and Calvin Scholar have already moved to withdraw from the case, and the latest filing noted that Nicole Blank Becker and Thomas A. Farinella would do the same soon.
The attorney shakeup will leave Kelly’s case in the hands of Jennifer Ann Bonjean, who gained notoriety last summer when she won a ruling on appeal that overturned Bill Cosby’s 2018 sex assault conviction and saw the comedian released from prison.
Federal prosecutors in New York last September invoked what’s known as the “RICO Act” to take down Kelly, who for decades seemed untouchable by law enforcement despite women telling horrid stories of sex abuse.
Using a law intended to crackdown on organized crime, Kelly is now looking at decades in prison. Chicago attorney, Steve Greenberg mentioned that the 20 years or more, that the government is likely to request will be tantamount to a life sentence for the 54-year-old.
A jury of seven men and five women found Kelly guilty of racketeering on their second day of deliberations. The charges were based on an argument that the entourage of managers and aides who helped the singer meet girls and keep them obedient and quiet, amounted to a criminal enterprise.
Several accusers testified in detail during the trial, alleging that Kelly subjected them to perverse and aggressive whims when they were underage.
For years, the public and news media seemed to be more amused than horrified by allegations of inappropriate relationships with minors, starting with Kelly’s illegal marriage to the R&B singer, Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just 15.
Even with such revelations, R. Kelly’s records and concert tickets kept selling at the time. Other artists also continued to record his songs, even after he was arrested in 2002 for making a recording of himself sexually abusing and urinating on a 14-year-old girl.
Widespread public condemnation didn’t come until a widely watched docuseries, ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ helped make his case a signifier of the #MeToo era, and gave voice to alleged victims who wondered if their stories were previously ignored because they were Black women.
At the trial, several of Kelly’s accusers testified without using their real names to protect their privacy and prevent possible harassment by the singer’s fans. Jurors were shown homemade videos of Kelly engaging in sex acts that prosecutors revealed were not consensual.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez argued that Kelly was a serial abuser who “maintained control over these victims using every trick in the predator handbook”. However, the defense labeled the accusers “groupies” and “stalkers”.
Defense attorney Deveraux Cannick questioned why the alleged victims stayed in relationships with Kelly if they thought they were being exploited.
Read also: Benjamin Aryee Committee Present Report On Apiate Explosion To Lands Minister
